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What is PSI doing on Paint?

The Product Stewardship Institute (PSI) is currently hosting calls with government agencies across the country to share information about the four paint stewardship programs in California, Connecticut, Oregon, and Rhode Island and to evaluate the success of Oregon’s program which has already been implemented. PSI holds regular Paint Product Stewardship Initiative (PPSI) calls which serve as national updates that provide information to stakeholders regarding the current status of paint legislation as well as existing programs. PSI is working with the American Coatings Association to facilitate the roll-out of future industry-sponsored paint recycling legislation for the 2013 legislative session, which includes work with individual states and the north east region.

National Paint Dialogue

Since December 2003, the Product Stewardship Institute (PSI) has facilitated a national dialogue aimed at reducing the generation of leftover paint, while increasing reuse and recycling opportunities. With the avid support of over 200 dialogue participants, these discussions resulted in an historic agreement mediated by PSI in October 2007 among paint manufacturers, government agencies, paint recyclers, painting contractors, and other participants. The agreement, or Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), calls for the establishment of an industry-funded Paint Stewardship Organization that will collect and manage leftover paint using a pass-through cost to consumers. The agreement also commits stakeholders to conduct a Demonstration Project in an initial state, with the full program to be rolled out to additional states following an evaluation period.

Stakeholder Meetings

PSI holds regular multi-stakeholder calls via teleconference as well as hosted 11 national paint dialogues which were conducted over the past eight years. the most recent Paint Product Stewardship Initiative Meeting was conducted in Portland, Oregon on December 9-10, 2009. This meeting brought together representatives of all stakeholder groups, including manufacturers, retailers, and state and local agencies. Presentations featured in the meeting included a status update from the original paint stewardship pilot project in Oregon, the order for the roll-out of paint stewardship legislation by state, how to measure and evaluate paint stewardship programs, and how to conduct proper outreach and educational initiatives to support programs. To learn more about the Paint Product Stewardship Initiative Meeting, click here. A comprehensive list of the 11 national paint dialogues can be found here.

Stakeholder Agreements (Paint MOUs)

The PSI led multi-stakeholder dialogue was aimed at developing and signing a memorandum of understanding (MOU) which would establish industry-funded paint stewardship programs in an orderly fashion in participating states across the country. The first and second MOUs were developed and agreed upon in April 2005 and October 2007 respectively. For more information please click here.

Projects and Initiatives

Throughout the national paint dialogue, stakeholders identified 11 projects necessary to coordinate a national leftover paint management system. These projects can be organized into the following four categories: educational projects, infrastructure projects, market projects, and other projects. Ultimately, eight of these projects were funded jointly by industry and government, at a cost of nearly $2 million. PSI also supported individual pilot projects in states that did not participate in the dialog process. To learn more about all of these projects, click here.

PSI is working with the US EPA along with state and local agencies in Oregon and other key stakeholders on the Paint Evaluation Project which is evaluating the effectiveness of Oregon’s Paint Stewardship Program. PSI is hosting a series of calls that discuss the awareness of consumers, the amount of paint collected by retailers and HHW locations, the amount of recycled paint sold within the state, and other metrics that can be used to determine the success of Oregon’s program. The Paint Product Stewardship Initiative Evaluation Committee has created a comprehensive and interactive flow chart that describes the different elements of Oregon’s program and how the program works as well as documents related to the project including awareness surveys, environmental impact assessments, call recordings, and more.

Get Involved

Interested in learning more about, or participating in, the leftover paint management dialogue? Contact Scott Cassel at 617-236-4822 to learn more about the dialogue and what participants hope to accomplish.